Palace to Binay: You applauded the gov’t you now call incompetent

MANILA – With Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay delivering what he called the ‘True’ State of the Nation Address (TSONA) and again criticizing President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s supposed poor governance, the Malacañang only reminded Binay that he was part of what he repeatedly called the ‘insensitive’ and ‘incompetent’ administration.

Aquino, for his part, only hoped that the Vice President tell the truth.

“I stand by what we said… One would hope that he would honor his pledge to serve the people and part of that is giving them the right information,” he said before Binay gave his speech.

“We are in a democracy. Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion. So long as they conform to the rules and the laws of the land, they are free to speak their mind,” he added.

Aquino also asserted that statements and claims in his SONA were verifiable through numerous agencies and even by ordinary citizens. He then cited Sergio Gabriel, whose photo as a volunteer was one of those shown when he delivered his speech.

“At a time when people think there is no hope for our country, I am reminded not to believe that, because I’ve seen that hope first-hand; and it’s rooted in its people, the Filipino people,” Gabriel said in his article released on Rappler.

“So long as that hope exists in our people, I will always be more than willing to carry bottles of water under the rain for it – because that’s exactly what this country needs: people to hope, and people to act on it. Thank you very much, President Noy,” he added.

Aquino thanked people like Gabriel for supporting him in his ‘daang matuwid’ (straight path) and for taking their own efforts to help the country rise and progress. To this, Gabriel was honored. He also mentioned that the ‘millennial’ generation has indeed been actively observing and engaging with the country’s issues.

“In your speech you thanked my generation for helping contribute to the progress of this country. I hope I can speak for most of the millennial generation when I say we are honored to share the responsibility of building this country with you,” he said.

“We take selfies, but we also give our take on who should and shouldn’t run for the presidency in 2016. Yes, we share posts from 9-Gag and BuzzFeed, but we share our frustrations and joys also with the links of local and international news articles… We always express our disgust and intolerance for anything closely related to corruption and discrimination involving gender, sexuality and religion,” he added.